Senior RTE Execs Step Aside As Government Orders Inquiry Into Priest Libel

Pressure continues to heap on Ireland's national broadcaster RTE following the libeling of a Co. Galway priest in a Prime Time Investigates TV show earlier this year.

In a series of dramatic developments over the past week:

• The government ordered the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) to carry out an independent inquiry into how the entirely false allegations made it to air.
• Two senior executives in RTE stepped aside while the investigation is being carried out, and the journalist and producer of the show will not be involved in any on-air programming until the results are known.
• RTE shelved an upcoming series of Prime Time Investigates until next year.
• It re-broadcast the apology to Fr Kevin Reynolds last Friday night, after complaints from some viewers about the speed and tone of its first broadcast.
• Meanwhile, the family of a second missionary priest accused of abusing children in the same show has challenged RTE to prove the case against him.

Morale is said to be extremely low among staff at the station as the ongoing controversy causes serious damage to the reputation of the organization.

There has been severe criticism too of how management in RTE have dealt with the biggest scandal in the station's history.

A seven figure settlement was agreed by RTE and Fr Kevin Reynolds before the High Court on November 17th following the "Mission to Prey" program.

The show claimed falsely that Fr Reynolds had fathered a child in Kenya with an underage girl 30 years ago, and its makers failed to take up his offer of a paternity test before broadcasting the claim.

When Fr Reynolds continued to deny the claims in the wake of the broadcast, a paternity test was carried out which proved his innocence.

The girl, who had claimed in the broadcast that Fr Reynolds was her father, also withdrew her allegation in a letter to the Mill Hill missionaries.

RTE broadcast an immediate apology, and Fr Reynolds, who had been forced to step aside from his parish duties in Ahascragh, Co. Galway, returned to his ministry.

In the wake of the libel settlement, RTE asked press ombudsman John Horgan to carry out an investigation into procedures in RTE to find out how the defamatory claim made it to air.

A spokesman for RTE seemed to rule out the dismissal of those responsible when, during a radio interview, he remarked that "rolled heads don't learn anything".

An apology, which was part of the High Court settlement, was broadcast, but it led to a slew of complaints that it was read out at speed and in a monotone voice.

The controversy stepped up a gear in the past week, after Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte decided that RTE's internal inquiry was not sufficient to satisfy the public's demand to know what went wrong.

He ordered the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland to hold a separate independent investigation into how the program was made, whether legal advice was ignored or not, and who was responsible.

He described the defamation of Fr Reynolds as "very grave" and said he could not recall a "lapse of this magnitude before in the history of RTE".

"RTE plays a very unique role in public affairs and public life of our society. It has traditionally adhered to very high standards and it's in the interests of the broadcaster as well as in the public interest that questions which remain around the Fr Reynolds case be cleared up," he said.

RTE's Director General Noel Curran suspended the Prime Time Investigates series for the rest of the year, and did not rule out resignations over the controversy.

The following day two of RTE's most senior news executives announced they would step aside while the investigations were being carried out.

They were Ed Mulhall, managing director of RTE's news and current affairs division, and Ken O'Shea, Head of Current Affairs in RTE.

In addition, producer Briain Pairceir and journalist Aoife Kavanagh will not be involved in any on-air programming for the duration of the inquiries.

A fifth producer involved in the show, Mark Lappin, has since left RTE to join CNN in London.

RTE then took the unprecedented step of re-broadcasting the apology to Fr Reynolds in response to concerns expressed by viewers.

The re-broadcast was welcomed by the Association of Catholic Priests, which had been critical of the initial transmission.

In another potentially damaging development for RTE, the family of a now-deceased Christian Brother, who was also accused of child abuse in the Mission to Prey program has launched a bid to clear his name.

Siblings and other relatives of Brother Gerard Dillon wrote to the Irish Catholic newspaper to call on RTE to prove the claims, saying the documentary was "utterly despicable".

However, despite the pressure on the program-makers, RTE is standing over the allegations against Br Dillon.

They said they man who alleged abuse on the program, Tyrone Selmone, stands over his claims.

RTE said separately to Mr Selmone's testimony, it secured allegations of abuse against Br Dillon by other former pupils now living in other countries.

Those allegations were further corroborated by others, it said.

The controversy over the Mission to Prey program shows no signs of abating as it enters its third week.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin - the most respected member of the Irish hierarchy - heaped further pressure on RTE by questioning how the affair has been handled by bosses at the station.

"If this were in the church the bishops would be told to voluntarily resign rather than stand aside. The level of accountability has to be questioned here, it took a long time before people came and held their hands up and said 'look we made a serious mistake here'," he said.